This invention relates to an apparatus for shock-like flushing in a liquid system, in particular waste water and sewage systems that among other things can receive waste water from houses.
In waste water and sewage systems there is in many places a need for so-called xe2x80x9cshock-flushing apparatusesxe2x80x9d, i.e. installations bringing about a shock-like discharge of accumulated waste water into following parts of a pipe network or system. Of particular interest in the present context are the outer or upper ends of a waste pipe serving a number of housing units. In such situations the total waste water volume from the housing units will often be so low and varying that a shock-flushing apparatus is highly desired in order to avoid deposition and clogging in the downstream pipe network. As it is known, such problems are frequent when throughout a longer period of time only small amounts of waste water or sewage flow through the pipes.
Shock-flushing apparatuses in various forms are previously known, for example from:
French patent 2,720,424,
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,321,948 and 5,290,434 and 3,843,976,
British patent 1.441.631,
German patent 3.610.737,
International patent publication WO 89/03917 and PCT/NO98/00269.
The previously known solutions have shortcomings and drawbacks being among other things related to the following:
Movable parts being subjected to the waste water or liquid containing various substances and pollutants that lead to soiling and fouling of movable parts so that these with time are subject to malfunction.
More or less irregular surfaces delimiting the liquid flow, for example in flexible, corrugated pipe members which are also subject to depositions and fouling, and
relatively complicated structures in the purely mechanical sense, so that the reliability during long period operations is not satisfactory.
Particularly in the above case of a relatively small number of housing units at the end of a waste water or sewage pipe, there is a requirement for a solution adapted to the situation, making it adequate in technical and economical terms to install a shock-flushing apparatus at the desired location. The space conditions are also very significant in this connection.
Thus, on the above background the invention is more closely directed to an apparatus for shock-like flushing in a liquid system, comprising an accumulating or blocking element which upon supply of liquid from an inlet is adapted to be set from a normal position to a flushing position where accumulated liquid flows through an outlet to a following section of the liquid system, and subsequently to be reset to normal position, where the blocking element is held in an inclined position by means of a spring or weight load until a certain level of accumulated liquid is attained, and the spring or weight load is adapted to bring the blocking element back from the flushing position to normal inclined position when a certain low liquid level is attained.
What is novel and specific in the apparatus according to the invention consists in the first place therein that the blocking element is formed essentially as a U-shaped tube the two ends of which are tightly connected to the inlet and the outlet, respectively, through flexible tube sleeves which make possible the movement of the U-tube between the two positions for accumulation and flushing, respectively.
Advantageously such an apparatus can be integrally mounted in a two-part tank at the end of a waste water pipe as discussed above, whereby an upstream part of the tank serves for accumulating waste water from the houses, whereas an adjacent, downstream tank part contains the movable components of the shock-flushing apparatus, namely in the first place the U-shaped tube and means for spring or weight loading of the U-tube.
Among the advantages of the apparatus conserned, reference is made to a favourable design of the flow path through the movable U-tube, at the same time as this requires comparatively little space. Moreover, there is here the question of a closed, movable U-tube, that with its flexible connections to the inlet and the outlet, respectively, constitutes a very reliable conponent in the apparatus.